Any Good Stories About Jury Rigging Repairs On the Roadside

[72HCODE]

1993: coming back from cave exploration trip, middle of the sonora desert, 3 guys, equipment, fully loaded. driver(not me) decides: HEY YOU CAN GET SOME SERIOUS AIR JUMPING THESE DESERT MOGALS! of course the 2 guys screaming stop are ignored.

1992 Mazda MPV; 4wd drive shaft snapped in 2, rear shaft pulled out of rear diff spilling fluid all out of rear case. front drive shaft now hanging down under car about to pull out of front case which would of split transmission fluid, 50 walk out of the desert 3 guys.

we had tools.

we found one glass beer bottle. one aluminum beer can, and Tore the brake light harness out of the rear end.

the sheared end of the drive shaft still attached to the car fit inside the glass beer bottle after we carefully broke the neck off. we then used the fluid leaking out of the back end and filled up the beer bottle and placed it on the end of the drive shaft, the aluminum can was cut up into a bracket that held the beer bottle and allowed an attachment point to the chassis the bracket kept the glass bottle from sliding off the end, provided lubrication for the end of the drive shaft and kept pressure on the drive shaft to stay in the front transmission. the wires stolen from the brake light harness held everything together. we couldn't use the cave equipment we had for some reason but it wasn't going to work.

and so after 4 hours we managed to limp that mpv back to the road, i believe it was about 2000$ worth of damage back then and the mazda dealer marveled at our repair. it was my idea to use the glass bottle filled with rear end fluid as a bearing since the driveshaft had to rotate but still stay inside the front transmission. i got the idea from my great grand father that repaired watches and used glass and rubies as bearings inside watch movements. whatever we got home.

 

[NoLimitssjca]

First I must confess, I love to drive/ride. Because of that I have a lot of 'moments' that come to mind but not necessarily of the 'McGyver' variety.

One that comes to mind was years ago, I took this incredibly hot chick on a long weekend ride on my motorcycle. On the way back she got my attention and asked me to pull over at the next possible place. So a mile or two down the road I found a 'wide spot' and pulled over. She calmly got off the bike and started taking her jacket off. (It's not what you're thinking)

As she pulls her arm out she shoo's a bee out of her sleeve. That bee stung her a couple of times but instead of panicking, she kept her cool for what must have seemed an eternity her. We then hopped back on and finished our ride.

We continued our rides and a few years later I married that woman!

 

[OLE PONY]

First I must confess, I love to drive/ride. Because of that I have a lot of 'moments' that come to mind but not necessarily of the 'McGyver' variety.

One that comes to mind was years ago, I took this incredibly hot chick on a long weekend ride on my motorcycle. On the way back she got my attention and asked me to pull over at the next possible place. So a mile or two down the road I found a 'wide spot' and pulled over. She calmly got off the bike and started taking her jacket off. (It's not what you're thinking)

As she pulls her arm out she shoo's a bee out of her sleeve. That bee stung her a couple of times but instead of panicking, she kept her cool for what must have seemed an eternity her. We then hopped back on and finished our ride.

We continued our rides and a few years later I married that woman!

Wow, that was brave! So from then on do you pull over a lot sooner when she gets your attention.

 

[NoLimitssjca]

She's a trooper and if she so much as hints, I pull over.

 

[landmule]

My 71 Mustang is my first car and was my only car for most of my foolish youth. We've shared a good number of adventures. I don't know if it's common, but my car tends to go through throttle cables with some regularity. As a teenager I was driving to a swim meet when the cable broke just above the pedal. Without enough cable to tie it together and lacking any good tools, I had find a way to get moving. Turns out that the strings from two Speedos are just long enough to run from the carb to the drivers window. So, I had a very effective hand throttle that worked like a cruise control if I rolled the string up in the window. That trick got us to the pool and home - about 200 miles. After that I tried to keep a spare cable (this wasn't the first one that broke) in the trunk with my tools. Sometimes you've got to make the best of what's available...

 

[73vertproject]

My 71 Mustang is my first car and was my only car for most of my foolish youth. We've shared a good number of adventures. I don't know if it's common, but my car tends to go through throttle cables with some regularity. As a teenager I was driving to a swim meet when the cable broke just above the pedal. Without enough cable to tie it together and lacking any good tools, I had find a way to get moving. Turns out that the strings from two Speedos are just long enough to run from the carb to the drivers window. So, I had a very effective hand throttle that worked like a cruise control if I rolled the string up in the window. That trick got us to the pool and home - about 200 miles. After that I tried to keep a spare cable (this wasn't the first one that broke) in the trunk with my tools. Sometimes you've got to make the best of what's available...

Hey, landmule. Nice story and welcome to the club. When you get a chance, post a short intro in the Introductions section so we can give you a proper welcome!

Doc

 

[72fastback]

Me and my then girlfriend where driving in a huge thunder storm when the wipers suddenly quit on us. I got out of the car in pouring rain and checked under the hood. The wiper motor was loose and the threads seemed stripped because I couldn't tighten it up. I had a cut up hockey stick in the trunk {Canadian Billy bat hahaha} and an air tube from a bicycle. I broke a piece off the stick and put a piece of the tube around it. I wedged it in between the wiper motor and whatever was closest and we had wipers again. The car stayed that way until we sent it to the scrap yard hahaha.

 

[OLE PONY]

My 71 Mustang is my first car and was my only car for most of my foolish youth. We've shared a good number of adventures. I don't know if it's common, but my car tends to go through throttle cables with some regularity. As a teenager I was driving to a swim meet when the cable broke just above the pedal. Without enough cable to tie it together and lacking any good tools, I had find a way to get moving. Turns out that the strings from two Speedos are just long enough to run from the carb to the drivers window. So, I had a very effective hand throttle that worked like a cruise control if I rolled the string up in the window. That trick got us to the pool and home - about 200 miles. After that I tried to keep a spare cable (this wasn't the first one that broke) in the trunk with my tools. Sometimes you've got to make the best of what's available...

Those Speedo strings was like having a rein on a horse! :run_horse: